BJP alleges scam in telecom contract

The procurement of a high-tech communications system that will bring all civic and law-enforcement agencies under one net during the Commonwealth Games is rigged with a multi-crore rupees scam, Delhi’s Opposition party has alleged.

The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded a CBI probe alleging the state government relaxed tender norms to award Motorola the contract for installing the system for Rs 99 crore and that the system was flawed and compromised security.

“This contract has been awarded disregarding security rules of the defence ministry, the telecommunication department and the home ministry,” said senior Delhi BJP leader and former state unit chief Dr Harsh Vardhan.

“The security of the Games is vulnerable now,” he told reporters. The BJP also demanded that an expert committee, comprising both government and non-government scientists, be formed immediately.

“The Scientific Analysis Group of the Defence Ministry has not tested the security system adopted for the Games,” he claimed. The TErrestrial Trunked Radio or TETRA system was originally developed for use by governmental agencies in Europe by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in 1995.

It is a hand-held communications tool, colloquially known as a walkie-talkie.

“This technology requires extensive training, for which there is no time,” Vardhan said.

“This project is on a PPP basis wherein the government is not buying anything but merely paying a rental for the services. Also, the defence ministry approval is not needed for installing this kind of a system. Those who are alleging all this do not understand the system”.